No counter, no queue — just an invoice that has to turn into money. Payment links a client can use from the email, bank debits for the larger balances, retainers that bill themselves, and a card keyed over the phone when that is what it takes.
Illustrative. What you actually need is decided with you — most firms need no hardware at all.
A firm without a counter still has payment points — they are just spread across an inbox, a phone, a client’s premises and a billing cycle. Each one has a different failure mode, and all of them settle into the same place. Pick a point to see how it is handled.
One merchant accountOne reconciliationEvery payment matched to its invoice
A payment link on the invoice means a client can settle from the email it arrived in, at the moment they read it, without a phone call to either side. The payment carries the invoice reference with it, so it arrives already matched rather than needing to be found later.
Some clients will always want to read a card number down the phone. The virtual terminal turns any computer into a way to take that payment — no hardware, no install. Keyed transactions carry more risk than card-present ones, so address and security-code verification are normally required.
For work done at a client’s premises, the gap between finishing and invoicing is where payment terms go to die. A paired reader takes the same transaction your office would, wherever there is coverage, and emails the receipt on the spot.
A retainer, a service plan or an installment arrangement charges a stored, tokenized payment method on the schedule the client agreed to. Bank debits suit the larger ones, because a card that expires is the most common reason a recurring payment fails.
Links, keyed payments, on-site work and scheduled debits all settle into the same place, with the invoice reference attached. What has been paid, what is outstanding and what is funding to your bank account is one report rather than a spreadsheet built by hand.
A firm that bills on terms has four ways to be paid and they are not interchangeable. Which one suits a given invoice depends on how large it is, whether it repeats, and how much the client wants to think about it — and getting that right is worth more than any device on this page.
A browser and an email address cover most of this category. Where equipment is genuinely useful it can be purchased outright or financed, including zero-upfront options for qualified merchants, subject to underwriting.
The reason invoices go unpaid is rarely that the client refuses. It is that paying takes a bank login, a reference typed by hand and a decision to do it later. A link in the invoice collapses that into one action taken while the email is still open.
Card, bank debit, payment link, keyed over the phone or on site — all on the same merchant account and the same reporting.
ACH suits invoices and retainers that card limits and card cost get in the way of. It sits alongside card acceptance rather than replacing it, on the same account.
A stored, tokenized payment method charged on an agreed schedule, with the authorization record kept alongside it — which is what answers a query about a charge months later.
Every payment arrives with its invoice reference attached and settles to the same account, so the books are read rather than reconstructed.
Reviewed alongside your processing rather than as a separate application.
Programs, amounts and terms are subject to underwriting and approval, and differ by business. Nothing here is an offer of credit.
The setup conversation starts with the invoices you already send rather than with a terminal catalog, because for this category the workflow is the product and the hardware is an afterthought.
Most questions in this category are really about ACH and recurring billing — the service page covers both in detail.
ACH & eCheckYes — that is usually the first thing worth fixing. A payment link on the invoice lets a client pay from the email it arrived in, by card or by bank debit, without a phone call to either side. The payment arrives already matched to the invoice reference, so reconciliation is not a separate job.
Yes. ACH and eCheck debit a client’s bank account directly, which suits larger invoices and retainers where card limits and card cost get in the way. They are authorized per client, settle on the ACH network’s own timetable rather than at card speed, and sit on the same merchant account as your card acceptance.
Size and repetition decide it. Card cost is a proportion of the amount and bank debit is typically a flat cost per transaction, so the larger the invoice the more the difference matters — which is why firms often run small invoices on a card link and move the large recurring balances to ACH.
The trade is not only cost. A card authorizes in seconds and a bank debit clears on its own timetable, and a returned debit behaves nothing like a chargeback — different reasons, different windows, different remedy. It is worth understanding both before moving a significant client, which is a conversation rather than a setting.
Yes. A stored, tokenized payment method — card or bank account — can be charged on the schedule the client agreed to. What makes it work is the authorization record: the amount or how it is calculated, how often it is taken, when it starts and how the client stops it. That record is what answers a disputed charge later.
Often none. The virtual terminal turns a browser into a way to key a card over the phone, and payment links need nothing but email. A paired mobile reader is worth having only if you take payment on a client’s premises. Nobody should be selling you a counter terminal for a business that does not have a counter.
The same way as any other payment, with the schedule agreed in writing first: a deposit at engagement, staged amounts against milestones, and a balance on completion. Each one is a link or a scheduled debit against the same client record, so what has been paid and what has not is visible without a spreadsheet.
By your business type, your monthly volume, your average invoice and how your payments split between keyed, online and bank debit — a firm with a handful of large invoices looks nothing like one with hundreds of small ones. Rather than quote a rate first, we review a recent processing statement. Any figure shown before that review is an estimate, not an offer.
Invoice. Retainer. On site. One account.
Restaurant-ready POS, pay-at-table handhelds and equipment with no upfront cost for qualifying merchants. We start with a statement analysis — nothing changes until the numbers make sense.
Promotional terms and eligibility apply. Estimates only. Final pricing requires statement analysis and approval.
